Reaching the peaks in Derbyshire

A week of wine, walking and wet weather (followed by lots of sun)

Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th October – Travel and Buxton

It’s time for another trip in my beloved caravan and this time I have company. My friend Joanna, who I’ve known since the day I was born, joined me. My Mum used to babysit Jo, her brother and sister, so myself and my sisters practically grew up with them as we shared summer holidays, schools and everything in between with them. Jo has stayed in caravans before, but not with me towing it, so she kind of knew what to expect!

To avoid any delay, I went to collect my caravan from storage the day before so that we could head straight off when Jo arrived at mine, and we had done a quick trip to Tesco’s. My parents kindly agreed that I could leave it on their drive overnight, as my driveway is too hard to negotiate as its down a hill and around a corner from the road. Tricky.

All packed up and ready to go, Jo began her lessons (that would be week-long) on setting up a caravan to be towed. Her main job was, after I had secured everything, to put all four legs up. This took a bit of time as I had parked my caravan up when my parents garage door had been open, and now it was closed (they weren’t in) Jo couldn’t get the handle round to lift them up. Luckily, my parents have a key safe, so we could open it ourselves. Lifted the legs, went to hitch up and realised that the pavement was too low, even with the jockey wheel totally extended, to reach as low as my towbar to hitch up, so had to set the motor mover up instead and pull forward a little. Another lesson for Jo who had never seen one before!

Key back in safe and all connected, Jo checked the lights at the back for me (so much easier with two people) and we were off.

Incident free journey thank goodness. I had done my research when looking for a campsite so knew it was mainly A roads and a wide entrance to the site – better to be safe than sorry. Took about 2.5 hours. We were staying at Lime Tree Holiday park which is just outside Buxton with a lovely view to the viaduct from the top field. Luckily, we were put on the top field, otherwise no view!

The campsite is easy to find and get into and we had a very warm and friendly welcome from the lady in reception. After a warning not to stop on the hill, we followed her up to our pitch. It was a steep hill, but we made it! Nothing to worry about for anyone else thinking of staying there. The toilet block was spotless (and heated), the washing area clean and tidy and the pitches were hard-standing and well-tended. Couldn’t ask for more! There were also washing facilities, a small shop and a games room that we didn’t use but would be great if you had kids and muddy clothes. Also, lots of leaflets to help choose your day trips and where to eat out.

Jo was very helpful setting up – here she is filling up the water (first time!) Only a small splash to her toes. Showed her how everything works and where everything is and made ourselves comfortable for the night.

In case anyone is wondering how we slept in a two-man caravan without having to share a bed (#seperatebeds) here is a photo of the before, during and after set-up of the bed. Any questions, let me know!

BIG SHOUT OUT TO MY MUM who made us homemade chilli to take with us for dinner and a lovely chocolate cake – yum!

After a comfortable and warm night, we decided to stay relatively close to the site today and explore Buxton, which you can walk to from where we were staying. You can choose from a pathed walk or across fields, so we went for the fields! A bit muddy, but worth it for the fresh air.

Buxton is an old market and spa town, nestling amongst the surrounding Derbyshire hills in The Peak District at a height of over 1000ft, making it the highest town in England. It grew in fame as a spa town because of the pale blue water which bubbles up from thermal springs beneath The Crescent. These are the outlets from a subterranean reservoir, where the water lies for many years before coming to the surface at a constant temperature of 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

It’s fame as a health spa dates to Roman times, who were thought to have settled here around AD80 and built baths, the remains of which were excavated in the 17th and 18th centuries. Over the years Buxton became popular with pilgrims wanting to take the waters and one famous visitor was Mary Queen of Scots who suffered badly from rheumatism.

The 18th century saw much development of the town with the building of The Crescent by the 5th Duke of Devonshire with money made from his copper mines. The building included a ball room and an assembly room and was completed in 1788. Originally it contained a town house for the Duke but by 1804 he had relinquished his accommodation and it became the Centre Hotel with a hotel on each side, St Ann’s to the west and the Great Hotel to the east. Hotel guests were able to use private entrances to the baths. (Source: http://www.peakdistrictonline.co.uk/buxton-history-c948.html)

We walked into the centre of town and found the Pump rooms and The Crescent, a brand-new spa hotel, which is still in construction, renovating the original hotel as mentioned above. The Pump Rooms were where people visited to take the water and as you can see from the photos is still set up like it looked back then. It is now a tourist information centre and also has displays telling you about the history of the building, including the ‘Well Women’ who worked there serving the water. Martha Norton was one of the longest serving of them, starting in 1775, she held the position 15 times over a 46-year period and worked there until she was well into her 90s – maybe there is something in the water!

We brought a small walk book from here to use later in the week and then walked to the Cavendish Arcades, which used to be the public baths and a type of treatment centre/hospital. It still looked like the entrance to a swimming pool, and had a spectacular roof and signs reminding you of its history.

It is now full of shops and restaurants, and we made a quick visit to the chocolate shop to buy some handmade goodies for later. We picked out 8 chocolates to share from Charlotte’s Chocolates – delicious!

Off to investigate Buxton more, we walked past a well that still distributes warm water! We didn’t have a taste…

On towards the Opera House, we decided to sit in their greenhouse/conservatory to eat our packed lunch as it was a bit chilly outside. Lovely shop and art gallery to look around too. Followed this with a walk around the pavilion gardens before making our way back to the arcade as we needed to warm up.

We discovered ‘Upstairs at Charlottes’ another part of the chocolate shop from earlier. We both ordered hot chocolate, which was delivered as warm milk and a chunk of chocolate to stir in – amazing. Jo went for a vanilla and chocolate marble cake slice (which was served warm) and I went for a vanilla scone with cream and jam, also served warm. Absolutely delicious.

Back off outside and would highly recommend the Buxton Museum to any visitors. Its free of charge and full of great stories about Buxton including the tale of ewe’s who were originally from the hills of Derbyshire but were sold to a farmer in Kent. They seemed to dislike their new home so escaped and walked all the way back up North again – a journey of over 200 miles. Their heads are now mounted on the wall of the museum (nice!).

We walked back a different way to the campsite (along paths, not fields) so that we could pass under the viaduct we can see from our campsite and got some lovely photos.

About 30 minutes after getting back to the van, the skies opened and the rain bucketed down – and didn’t stop for the next two days! We stayed inside and enjoyed the chocolates from earlier – my favourite was salted caramel 😊

Friday 25th and Saturday 26th October
Rain, rain….go away…Two days of culture it is!

So, it’s raining. This means a change to our plans of lots of long walks, and visiting some National Trust properties instead – not a bad swap.

We are off to visit Lyme Park. Here is how the website describes it;

‘Welcome to Lyme. Nestling on the edge of the Peak District, Lyme was once home to the Legh family and, in its heyday a great sporting estate.
Step back in time to the Regency era – a time which saw great rejuvenation for Lyme. Enjoy lavish interiors, try out the billiards table in the Long Gallery, read a book in the library, or visit our Dressing Room to try on the finest Regency regalia.
The 1,400-acre estate with its medieval herd of red deer offers fantastic walks and stunning views.
For a more tranquil walk explore the elegant Rose Garden, Ravine Garden or the luxurious herbaceous borders next to the reflecting lake where a certain Mr. Darcy met Miss Bennet in the BBC production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

Ermmm, think we’ll avoid the parklands and walks today – there was local flooding reported!

So, off into the house and we were lucky enough to be able to join a behind the scenes tour which took us to rooms, not everyone gets to see, including the ‘Dark Corridor’ built to hide the servants and trades people from the view of the house. It was great to get more of an insight into the house and Jo became a volunteer for 5 minutes when she was asked to replace barriers behind the group!

We lunched in what was the old ale cellar and enjoyed soup and sandwiches then went to see the rest of the house by ourselves.

Gorgeous rooms and lovely volunteers as usual. As we couldn’t really go outside (still pouring down) we HAD to instead go and enjoy a hot chocolate and in Jo’s case, a slice of cake. Drowning our sorrows in hot chocolate this week!

Back to the campsite for a cozy evening in and more cake for dessert!

Saturday 26th October

Still raining so off to Sudbury Hall and NT Museum of Childhood today.

We arrived around lunchtime (slow start this morning) so went to take a look around the museum before heading to the tea shop for lunch.

The museum was great (though full of kids – half term) and even featured toys from our generation! Made me feel a little old and very nostalgic. Who remembers Polly Pockets?

Off to the tea shop for soup and sandwiches and then into the house which was lovely from the outside but pretty empty inside, which is always disappointing. The layout was a little confusing as you were allowed to go where you like, and I couldn’t quite get a hold of how it worked as a home, but as always the volunteers were lovely and helpful.

Decide to drown our already wet sorrows with a cream tea, this time we shared one plain scone and an apple and salted caramel one – yum! We were very happy to find as we left the teashop that it had stopped raining at last!!

Back to the campsite and we opted for fish and chips from the visiting van on the campsite. I was lucky as Jo was first in the queue, so I got the last (and only) battered sausage they had! Sat with dinner, alcohol and Strictly Come Dancing on the TV – wonderful.

Sunday 27th and Monday 28th October
Here comes the sun!

Sun, sun, glorious sun! It’s time to put on our walking boots and head outside.

Consulted the book we brought back on our first day in Buxton and decided on Dovedale a 11k walk that took in some beautiful geological sites and sights along the way.

The photos do not do it justice….

Beautiful weather but as it had rained so much over the previous 48 hours, we couldn’t take our planned route so instead ended up climbing what felt was a mountain! Spectacular views though.

Walked down the other side (or in my case slid down it – typical) and carried on to re connect with the original walk plan and continue onwards.

Lots of caves and large rock outcrops to look at, all named and described in our walk book. Passed lots of keen walkers on the way and ended up in Milldale where we sat to have our packed lunch and a coffee from the lovely (and very welcome) tea shop there. We had wondered why we kept seeing lots of walkers passing us in the opposite direction with coffee cups! They were all served in compostable cups, so totally environmentally-friendly.

Onwards – and we went where we thought we should be going…….but…….it ended up we weren’t in the right place…… and needed to climb up mount Everest of a field to try to get back on track!

Introducing Sticky 1 and Sticky 2, without whom, I’m not sure we would have made it to the top!

Got a bit panicky at one point as we were literally in the middle of fields with nothing and no-one around us and the sun was going down rather rapidly, but pressed on, got over (or under) many obstacles to find our way back eventually (about an hour later) to the original walk.

Luckily, once we were back on track, it was a nice easy walk back to the car as we were pretty tired by then. Kind Jo decided to make me feel better by slipping over herself here, so it was one-all for falls and trips!

I checked my FitBit when we got to the car and the 11k walk turned out to be 15.5k!

Back to caravan and straight to a warm shower – back in time for strictly come dancing results!

Tonight we dined on more of my Mums delicious chili and had cake and custard for pudding. Good job we have more walking planned for tomorrow!

Monday 28th October
Woke to up to frost – first of this autumn!

Lovely and warm in the van though 😊

Another gorgeous autumnal day so another walk from the book is on the cards. We thought we’d take it easy after the 15k yesterday! Turns out we chose the wrong walk for that!

Headed to Matlock Bath today and parked up to walk our way to Matlock and then come back in a circular walk. Same as yesterday, gorgeous views and countryside BUT lots of hills!

Arrived in Matlock and enjoyed our packed lunch and then a hot chocolate at Sara’s Snug – marshmallows and cream on top!

More upward walking to go and visit the war memorial and take in some amazing views and then up, up and up!

9.42k today, so a bit shorter than yesterday, but certainly more steep climbs today. No trips or falls or need for sticks though!

Home for warmth, food and the obligatory cake.

Tuesday 29th October

Home today so we packed up and then made our way into Buxton for a final time on this trip. Returned to Charlottes Upstairs for a full English – lush!

Here are some statistics from our holiday – had a fabulous time and will hopefully be the first of many trips with Jo in the van in the future.

15.53 miles walked (over two days)
3 types of scones eaten
2 types of jam used
5 types of cake gobbled down
2 planned walks – 1 mis-direction
2 stickies
48 hours of rain
1 pair of walking socks bought
2 bottles of wine drunk
Half a bottle of gin finished
2 big breakfasts!
And a lovely holiday in my fabulous caravan 😊